VodaLend client Andre Schumann started his entrepreneurial journey relatively late in life: At the age of 33 he moved from a comfortable corporate career into the unknown territory of entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n
In 2015, he bought Euro-Decking, a company specialising in the installation of wood-plastic composite decking, wooden cladding, balustrades and pergolas for private houses and commercial developments.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy motivation was simple,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had to convince myself that I was capable of doing something on my own instead of relying on other people. I needed to prove that I could run a successful business.\u201d<\/p>\n
This says a lot about Andre\u2019s state of mind and goals at that point in time – the move was not driven by desperation or financial need.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had been comfortable in sales-related positions in companies all my life. I was motivated by dealing with clients in customer-service situations, where I did my best for both the client and my company,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Clearly, underpinning his purchase of Euro-Decking was a strong belief that he could achieve more, build a new career, and become more self-reliant.<\/p>\n
Asked why he chose a business that was heavily dependent on technology, his answer was surprising.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be honest, I had no formal construction or engineering training. It was all new to me. All I had done previously was help my late dad with some welding jobs around the house,\u201d Andre explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just dove into the deep end with the guys and learned all about decking. It was a step I had to take to run the company.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be honest, in previous jobs involving technology I asked my boss to give me time to learn the basics from the experts. It took weeks but at the end I knew enough to do my job.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, learning the Euro-Decking technology was not a new process for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Decking technology became the least of Andre\u2019s adjustment challenges, however.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a big jump from being a simple salesperson in an organisation to managing staff and running a business,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had to learn a massive amount in a very short time, right on the job. Running a business didn\u2019t come naturally to me and most of the early challenges came as a result of mistakes I made.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOvercoming obstacles meant I needed the strength to accept failure, learn from it, and get back out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of these challenges was cashflow.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn any construction-related project, most of the costs are up-front and payment from the client can be up to 120 days after completion,\u201d Andre explained.<\/p>\n
This would cause temporary dips in Euro-Decking\u2019s financial resources, meaning it required a cash injection<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I needed a loan to cover a low-cash situation, VodaLend<\/strong> <\/a>became a lifesaver,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe process could not have been smoother. There was minimal paperwork, it was done online, and communications were fast and efficient.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI was amazed – the application was sent through late in the afternoon, the loan was approved the next morning and money was in the bank by lunchtime,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was incredibly quick.\u201d<\/p>\n Andre\u2019s approach to successful entrepreneurship is simple.<\/p>\n \u201cThe key factors are hard work, perseverance and the strength to overcome obstacles – both physical and emotional,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n \u201cI used to beat myself up if things didn\u2019t go according to plan, but I had to get over that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s like I tell my staff: there will always be challenges, no matter how much you plan a project. It\u2019s about how you deal with those challenges that separates you from the rest and defines you as a leader.\u201d<\/p>\n What about Andre\u2019s home life? Is his work all-consuming?<\/p>\n \u201cI recently got married and we are looking to start a family, so free time is what motivates me,\u201d Andre explained.<\/p>\n \u201cI would like to get the business to a point where it is stable so that I can spend time with my kids while they grow up. I would like to be able to fetch them from school or go watch them play sport.\u201d<\/p>\n At VodaLend we respect your resilience and want to help with your big (or small) business needs.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why as a bonus to securing funding, successful applicants can also access Vodacom Legal Assist and receive access to eziADS, a digital and mobile advertising bundle on the Vodacom Digital Advertising portal, to the value of R2,000.<\/p>\n Read more about VodaLend and our successful SME partners here<\/strong><\/a> or simply apply for fast funding here<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cWhen I needed a loan to cover a low-cash situation, VodaLend became a lifesaver,\u201d said entrepreneur Andre Schumann.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":464018,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10459],"tags":[15740],"class_list":["post-463802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry-news","tag-vodacom-vodalend"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=463802"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":464020,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463802\/revisions\/464020"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/464018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=463802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=463802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=463802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Attitude defines success<\/h3>\n
VodaLend<\/h3>\n